This is a course in basic journalism skills, designed for the many people who are now taking advantage of new media to publish news, views and information. For five hundred years, the privilege of being able to publish was enjoyed by very few people – those who had access to a printing press or a radio microphone or a television camera. Now, almost anyone can publish to the world within minutes of being able to do so. But is it journalism?
How does a citizen journalist find things out, so they can report facts and news - moving beyond merely braying opinion? And what are the legal and ethical pitfalls to publishing facts that some people might prefer remain secret?
Over six weeks, this course teaches the basics of news writing, how to interview people to gain crucial information, how to develop and manage your sources and how to use your legal rights to access public information - and stay on the right side of the law when you publish. We discuss the ethics behind journalism practice, and conduct a mock investigation into local government. This course aims to empower engaged citizens to better participate in the news ecology.
View the MOOC promotional video here: http://tinyurl.com/jj46rxw

Impartido por:

Dr. Denis Muller

Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow

Dr. Margaret Simons

Associate Professor and Director

Transcripción

Lonie, thanks for agreeing to meet me. >> My pleasure. >> So I'm working for The Alternative. I don't know if you know it, but it's a relatively recent website. Good. So we're writing a bit about this new development, the Futopia development, housing estate on the Newstown marshes, and I was wondering if you could give us a bit more information about the impact it's likely to have on the environment, as a local conservationist. >> All right. Look, I'll just give you a little background of some of my concerns. Since 1980, we have lost up to 200 species of frogs in Australia, it's an alarming amount. The natural rate of extinction for a frog is one every 500 years, so that gives you some sort of idea of the alarm bells that sort of should be going off. The auburn frog is an endangered species. I was contacted about ten years ago by CSIRO to see if I would be interested in organising a volunteer organisation to monitor the frog species and to put them on the Australian species Atlas which the CSIRO runs. When we began that program, we started of with approximately we thought about 800 frogs that we could record, we're now down to about 80. So, it's very, very concerning. One of the very valuable things about this particular frog, it's an extraordinary creature. It has the ability to suspend its gastric juices while it's bearing its young. And currently the biomedical centre in Melbourne University along with the Boston University are working on a cure for peptic ulcers. And it's dependent on this auburn frog. So it's an incredibly valuable species, and ultimately worth many, many, many millions in terms of the research potential that this frog has. >> Nice. Now, I was talking to him earlier today and he said that the developers were actually going to save the frog by creating secure marsh areas. >> Yes. >> What's wrong with it- >> It's interesting. One hectare is nowhere near the sort of area that the frog needs. And the problem that he is going to develop is that he wants to flood this hectare and create a permanent sort of pool zone. Now the auburn frog relies on flooding so that there are dry periods and that there are wet periods. And his proposal will simply see the extinction of the urban frog. It will have the marsh trees permanently in flood, and again, the marsh tree relies on this ebb and flow of flood plains where the frogs breed within the bark of these trees. And it will see the eradication of the frog. The other interesting, [LAUGH] the comical point is that he wants to create a reseeding of the marsh trees. Well, the frog breeds in trees that are 250 years old. Now, it's all very well to have seedlings, but in 250 years, there will be no existence of the frog. >> Okay. And I think that's probably all, thank you. And is there anything else you'd like to say? >> No, that's fine, Margaret. Thank you. >> Thank you.